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"Dear Employees & Suppliers,
Congress and the current Administration will soon determine whether to provide
immediate support to the domestic auto industry to help it through
one of the most difficult economic times in our nation's history.
Your elected officials must hear from all of us now on why this support
is critical to our continuing the progress we began prior to the global
financial crisis.... As an employee or supplier, you have a lot at
stake and continue to be one of our most effective and passionate voices.
I know GM can count on you to have your voice heard. Thank you for
your urgent action and ongoing support.
Troy Clarke, President General Motors North America"
Response from: Gregory Knox, President of Knox Machinery Company of Franklin,
Ohio
Gentlemen:
In
response to your request to contact legislators and ask for a bailout for
the Big Three automakers please consider the following, and please pass
my thoughts on to Troy Clark, President of General Motors North America.
Politicians and Management of the Big 3 are both infected with the same entitlement
mentality that has spread like cancerous germs in UAW halls for
the last countless decades, and whose plague is now sweeping this nation,
awaiting our new "messiah", Pres-elect Obama, to wave his magic wand
and make all our problems go away, while at the same time allowing our
once great nation to keep "living the dream".... Believe me folks, the
dream is over!
This dream where we can ignore the consumer for years while management myopically
focuses on its personal rewards packages at the same time that
our factories have been filled with the world's most overpaid, arrogant,
ignorant and laziest entitlement minded "laborers" without
paying the price for these atrocities... this dream where you still think
the masses will line up to buy our products forever and ever.
Don't even think about telling me I'm wrong. Don't accuse me of not knowing
of what I speak. I have called on Ford, GM, Chrysler, TRW, Delphi,
Kelsey Hayes, American Axle and countless other automotive OEM's throughout
the Midwest during the past 30 years and what I've seen over those
years in these union shops can only be described as disgusting.
Troy Clarke, President of General Motors North America, states: "There is
widespread sentiment throughout this country, and our government, and especially
via the news media, that the current crisis is completely the result
of bad management which it certainly is not."
You're right Mr. Clarke, it's not JUST management... how about the electricians
who walk around the plants like lords in feudal times, making
people wait on them for countless hours while they drag ass... so they
can come in on the weekend and make double and triple time... for a job
they easily could have done within their normal 40 hour work week. How
about the line workers who threaten newbies with all kinds of scare tactics...
for putting out too many parts on a shift... and for being too
productive. (We certainly must not expose those lazy bums who have been
getting overpaid for decades for their horrific underproduction, must
we?!?)
Do
you folks really not know about this stuff?!? How about this great sentiment
abridged from Mr. Clarke's sad plea: "over the last few years...
we have closed the quality and efficiency gaps with our competitors."
What the hell has Detroit been doing for the last 40 years?!?
Did we really JUST wake up to the gaps in quality and efficiency
between us and them? The K car vs. the Accord? The Pinto vs.
the Civic?!? Do I need to go on? What a joke!
We
are living through the inevitable outcome of the actions of the United
States auto industry for decades. It's time to pay for your sins, Detroit.
I
attended an economic summit last week where brilliant economist, Alan Beaulieu,
from the Institute of Trend Research , surprised the crowd when he
said he would not have given the banks a penny of "bailout money". "Yes,
he said, this would cause short term problems," but despite what people
like politicians and corporate magnates would have us believe, the
sun would in fact rise the next day... and the following very important
thing would happen...where there had been greedy and sloppy banks,
new efficient ones would pop up... that is how a free market
system works... it does work... if we would only let it work..."
But for some nondescript reason we are now deciding that the rest of the world
is right and that capitalism doesn't work - that we need the government
to step in and "save us"... Save us my ass, Hell - we're nationalizing...
and unfortunately too many of our once fine nation's citizens
don't even have a clue that this is what is really happening... But,
they sure can tell you the stats on their favorite sports teams... yeah
- THAT'S really important, isn't it...
Does it ever occur to ANYONE that the "competition" has been producing vehicles,
EXTREMELY PROFITABLY, for decades in this country?... How can that be??? Let's
see... Fuel efficient... Listening to customers... Investing
in the proper tooling and automation for the long haul...
Not being too complacent or arrogant to listen to Dr. W. Edwards Deming four
decades ago when he taught that by adopting appropriate principles of
management, organizations could increase quality and simultaneously reduce
costs. Ever increased productivity through quality and
intelligent planning... Treating vendors like strategic partners, rather than
like "the enemy"... Efficient front and back offices... Non union environment...
Again, I could go on and on, but I really wouldn't be telling anyone anything
they really don't already know down deep in their hearts.
I
have six children, so I am not unfamiliar with the concept of wanting someone
to bail you out of a mess that you have gotten yourself into - my
children do this on a weekly, if not daily basis, as I did when I was their
age. I do for them what my parents did for me (one of their
greatest gifts, by the way) - I make them stand on their own two feet and
accept the consequences of their actions and work through it. Radical
concept, huh... Am I there for them in the wings? Of course - but
only until such time as they need to be fully on their own as
adults.
I
don't want to oversimplify a complex situation, but there certainly are
unmistakable parallels here between the proper role of parenting and government.
Detroit and the United States need to pay for their sins. Bad
news people - its coming whether we like it or not. The newly
elected Messiah really doesn't have a magic wand big enough to "make it all go away."
I laughed as I heard Obama "reeling it back in" almost immediately
after the final vote count was
tallied..."we really might not
do it in a year...or in four..." Where the Hell was that kind of talk
when he was RUNNING for office.
Stop trying to put off the inevitable folks ... That house in Florida really
isn't worth $750,000... People who jump across a border really don't
deserve free health care benefits... That job driving that forklift
for the Big 3 really isn't worth $85,000 a year... We really
shouldn't allow Wal-Mart to stock their shelves with products acquired from
a country that unfairly manipulates their currency and has the most atrocious
human rights infractions on the face of the globe....
That couple whose combined income is less than $50,000 really shouldn't be
living in that $485,000 home... Let the market correct itself folks - it
will. Yes it will be painful, but it's gonna' be painful either way, and
the bright side of my proposal is that on the other side of it all, is
a nation that appreciates what it has...and doesn't live beyond its means...and
gets back to basics...and redevelops the patriotic work ethic
that made it the greatest nation in the history of the world...and probably
turns back to God.
Sorry - don't cut my head off, I'm just the messenger sharing with you the "bad
news". I hope you take it to heart.
Gregory J. Knox, President
Knox Machinery, Inc.
Franklin , Ohio 45005
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